Texas Trio: Defensive Tackles

Brown is one of the top five or so players in the state, a disruptive defensive tackle who can make plays in the backfield. Brown displays great quickness for his size and is the rare tackle who can provide a boost to a team's pass rush. Brown gets off the ball well and has nice strength at the point of attack. He could play early on for a Texas team that is in need of playmaking tackles.

Boyette has the frame to either play as a three technique or a nose tackle at the next level. He's an outstanding athlete for his size (6-4 280), who plays on his high school's basketball team. He has great feet. A year ago, he had 51 tackles, with a whopping 19 coming behind the line of scrimmage. Those numbers also included five sacks. Boyette gives the Longhorns another player at a tackle position needing a boost.

A lot of players work hard, and others have great tools. In the case of Norman, his hard work has allowed him to exploit his great tools. Norman dropped his weight from more than 300 pounds to the 280-pound range, allowing him to display rare first-step quickness and get-off for a tackle. He'll be able to utilize those tools at a higher level when he gets to college, as he won't be playing both ways.

Watch out for …

While Texas grabbed arguably the top three tackles in the state, TCU was able to find a gamer of its own in Joey Hunt, a hard-to-block 275-pounder who plays with a nasty streak. Add him to defensive end Devonte Fields, and the Horned Frogs are building a heck of a defensive line for the future.